“You rescued me again,” she whispered. “But I’m still mad at you.”
“Mad?” I growled. “I am so incandescently angry at you, you’ll be lucky to sit for the next week.” In contrast to my words, I ran my hands over her to ensure she was unharmed. She seemed fine. Thank God. Otherwise, Ghost might have a murder on his hands. “Don’t ever do that to me again. I almost had a heart attack when they grabbed you. And then I couldn’t get to you…”
“How did you even find me?” she asked.
I caught her hand in mine. Turning her palm up, I ran my thumb over the scar on her wrist, an action she had to recognize because I did it often. She just didn’t know why.
“Remember the day you were rescued from Rod? How you were injured? And I tended to you before the medics got there? Gave you two shots?”
“Yeah…”
“Only one of the shots was to numb the area… The other wasn’t an anesthetic.”
“You put a tracker in me?” she exclaimed. “You didn’t even know me back then.”
“Baby girl… I took one look at you and knew you’d be mine someday. My whole life from that moment has been for you.”
Her mouth dropped open, but before I could say anything else, before she could move past her shock and yell at me, Ghost and his team dragged Coval from the building. I took a step forward, but Linzey sidestepped into my path, staring at him.
“I told you, you were a shitty kidnapper,” she taunted, and he swore at her in Zenderese.
Ghost shoved him. “Watch your mouth when you’re talking to a lady.”
Which reminded me…
I swung her around as the vans with the military prisoners took off, leaving us alone, my car half a block away. “How could you say that to him?”
“Heisa bad kidnapper.”
“That he should shoot you?” I raged, pulling her toward my vehicle. “How could you say that to him? Don’t you know myheart fucking beats for you? Don’t you realize how important you are? To me. To your family?”
She made a scoffing noise. “You broke up with me.”
I pushed her against the side of my car, my arms caging her in. She lifted her chin without a trace of fear, but I saw the vulnerability in her eyes, the demons that told her she wasn’t good enough.
“I didn’t break up with you,” I growled. “God damn it, I love you. And you’re mine. You think I’d lose the best part of my life? Fucking hell, Linzey!”
Her eyes went wide, then sunlight seemed to dawn over her features. She grinned. “I love you, too.”
“Good. Because you’re stuck with me.” My fingers threaded into her messy hair.
“I thought you were handing me over to someone else?”
I laughed. “A pain in the ass like you. I wouldn’t do that to one of my men.”
She shoved my shoulder, but I tugged her in to me and covered her mouth with mine, so fucking grateful that she was okay.
“But you said…” she started when we pulled apart minutes later.
“That was before. Let’s go home,” I said.
“We can’t. The explosions…”
I shrugged. “Already been inspected. The building is sound. Safe for residents while they repair the minor damage.”
“You’re sure?”
My curled fingers lifted her chin, and I brushed my lips over hers. “It’s safe. And you’re always safe with me.”